Evaluating the Impact of Internal Remittances on Financial Inclusion Evidence from Ugandan Household Data

Type Working Paper
Title Evaluating the Impact of Internal Remittances on Financial Inclusion Evidence from Ugandan Household Data
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2013
URL http://www.ael.ethz.ch/downloads/2014/Papers/Gross_and_Ntim.pdf
Abstract
This study investigates the impact of internal remittances on financial inclusion. Financially including remittance receivers can both have beneficial effects on receiving households and enhance the development effect of remittances. However, the role of internal remittances has been neglected completely so far. Using panel household level data from Uganda for the period 2005 to 2011, this study examines the impact of internal remittances on ownership of formal saving accounts and use of credit. The main results from the fixed effects logit estimations are that internal remittances increase credit use, especially regarding formal or semiformal credit sources compared to informal sources. Internal remittances also have a positive impact on the ownership of formal savings accounts for households having a higher education background, but the impact is negative for households without any education. A secondary finding is that education levels appear to influence the relevance of gender roles for financial inclusion, where gender is less of a determinant of financial access among the more educated. Overall, the results suggest that internal remittances have the potential to catalyze financial inclusion in Uganda especially through more formal financial institutions.

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